California hit with fresh setback in failed gender secrecy case costing taxpayers millions
California was dealt another blow in a lawsuit over gender secrecy policies in schools when a federal judge ordered the state this week to pay the plaintiffs in the case...
By Fox News · Fox News
California was dealt another blow in a lawsuit over gender secrecy policies in schools when a federal judge ordered the state this week to pay the plaintiffs in the case $4.5 million in taxpayer-funded legal fees. Judge Roger Benitez, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, scolded state lawyers in his order for what he said was an "unusual" spree of court motions that forced the parents and teachers who brought the lawsuit to respond to California’s "litigation intransigence." The lawsuit challenged California’s SAFETY Act, which blocked schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student sought to change their gender identity or pronouns. The Supreme Court rejected the policy in March and jurisdictions with similar policies have subsequently been hit with legal threats to repeal them. Benitez also tacked on added financial penalties, in addition to the legal fees reimbursement, to reach the $4.5 million figure because the case concerned a "very important subject," he said. NJ SCHOOL DISTRICT'S SECRETIVE TRANSGENDER POLICY FACES LEGAL THREAT FOR BUCKING SUPREME COURT "State public education policies impinged on families’ right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment. The policies also rejected and subverted the federal constitutional rights of California parents to guide the health and well-being of their school-age children," Benitez wrote. "Such concerns intrude among the most important areas of family life in America’s history and tradition." The lawsuit, brought against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, had argued that the state imposed an unconstitutional policy on schools that blocked teachers and staff from informing parents if their child wanted to change their gender. CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT LETS STUDENTS CHANGE NAMES AND GENDER IDENTITY IN SECRET FROM PARENTS The Supreme Court sided with the parents in a 6-3 emergency order, saying California's policy, which blocked what critics described as schools' "forced ou…